1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a player apparatus for compact discs (CD discs) and similar signal carriers, comprising a playing station with means for holding and rotating such discs and pick-up means for detecting the signals thereof, and further of the type comprising a magazine for two or more discs and means for selectively bringing any of these discs into and out of operative engagement with the playing station.
2. Description of Related Art
For handling of the said CD discs there are known two different types of disc magazines, viz. one in which the discs are held in a pile in face to face relationship and one in which the discs are supported lying on a carrousel structure in a common plane. The first type requires a rather complicated mechanism for transferring the discs between the magazine and the playing station, but an advantage is that the magazine can hold a large number of discs in a very compact manner; the system is well suited for professional use, but it is less suited for an elegant design as a domestic appliance. The carrousel type is mechanically simpler, but it is not either well suited for domestic use because the carrousel will typically have such a large diameter that the apparatus cannot be placed on a shelf of an ordinary depth dimension.
Besides, for both types of magazine units it applies that the user cannot readily identify the discs housed therein despite identifying imprint on the individual discs, as the magazines appear as closed units. Also, the user cannot change out any discs in the magazine during the playing of any other discs.